Rubber heel



April 1929- R. P. HARSHBERGER RUBBER HEEL Filed March 5, 1926 Patented Apr. 30, 1929.

UNITEDST'ATES RUSSELL'P. HARSHBERGER, or rAsA'nENA; 'GAIJIFQRNIAJ""Y1" RUBBER HEEL.

App11cation.fi1ed-.Mareh- 5.19126. Serial means.

This inventionrelates torubber heelsto be applied to shoes or boots, and one of the objects of the invention is to provide heels which will have a tendency to cause the wearer to walk with their feet more nearly parallel. If there is a tendency to turn the toes out too far these heels will gradually eliminate this tendency, or, on. the other hand, they may be arranged soas to eliin inate the tendency to turn the toes inwardly too much.

Of the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a bottom View of a heel to be worn; on the left foot when it is desired to turn the toes inwardly more; Fig. 2 is a corresponding bottom view of a heel to be worn on the right shoe; Figs. 3 and 4 are rear elevations of these heels; and Fig. 5 is a sectlon along the line 5--5 of Fig. 1.

The invention comprises rubber heels so formed that when the wearer presses down on the heel there will be a tendency for the heel to rotate slightly so as to turn the heel, with reference to the toes, inwardly or outwardly. Assuming it to be a left foot and that the shoe is worn by a person whose toes turn outwardly too much, the tendency will be to rotate the heel so as to turn the heel out slightly as the weight is put on the heel, and thus to, relatively, turn the toe inwardly. Any suitable arrangement of the heel may be made to accomplish this purpose, but I prefer to provide the slots 10 in the heels 11, and to have the slots inclined or slanting, as indicated. Assuming a left heel, when it is desired to turn the heel outwardly, theslots in the rear of the heel slant outwardly as they pass inwardly so that, when pressure is placed thereon, the tendency will be to move the rear part of the heel outwardly. At the same time the slots in the forward part of the heel slant upwardly and outwardly so that the tendency is to turn the forward part of the heel inwardly. These two tendencies will coact to turn the foot itself inwardly so as to cause the foot to be more nearly parallel with the line of direction of the walker. Correspondingly the right heel has the rear slots also slanting outwardly or away from the other foot. It will be understood, however, if it is desired to turn the toes outwardly more all of the slots in the heels will be reversed so far as the inclination is concerned.

The heels may be fastened to the shoes in any suitable manner, such as by means i of:

nails 12 which are lIlSGI'tBdlIlylZllB usual 11118.1)-

ner; and, to improvethe appearancecfthe 1 shoe, I provide 'athin'wa'll '13 at the end or i each slot so thatthd slots will notshow i'roin the edges of the heels: Imalso ataperthe slots somewhat as indicated so that the outer portionsld are; somewhat wider; than the inner portions When so arranged any; dirt or substances which maybe .cro'wded in'tothe slots will. soon. workout, and this will prevent the slots from becoming.- filled solidly so that the heelsflwii-llbe ineffective.

It will be understood from this that the general purpose of the invention is to provide means -for turning the feet. of the wearer of the heels so that they'fwill be more nearly 7 parallel. This tends to strengthen the arch of the foot and is a more comfortable and effective way of walking or running. If, howeveijitmay be desired for any reason to turn the; feet so that they will be at a greater angle than normal it is nec-. essary only to reversethe direction of slant 7 of the slot on the respective heels. It is to be understood that the heels will not pr0- duce at each step the entire effect desired. There will be a rather material tendency with each step forthe foot to be turned in the direction desired and the continuous use wearer to turn the feet permanently in a more nearly parallel direction, as with each step there is a'slight tendency of this nature,

which gradually accumulates; and when the heels are worn for a suflicienttimei the effect is to form the habit of turning-the toes in the manner desired; It will be understood that the efi'ectiveness of the -in-,'

vention will depend somewhat upon the depth and general formation of the slots in the heels, and they may be made slightly or materially effective as seems best to meet the requirements.

I claim as my invention:

1. A heel adapted to be fixed to a shoe, said heel being composed of yielding material, and having radial slots therein of very material depth, said slots having nearly parallel walls, both of which are inclined with reference to a line perpendicular to the bottom of the heel.

2. A heel adapted to be fixed to a shoe, said heel being composed of yielding material, and having radial slots therein of very material depth, said slots having Walls inclined at an an le to a line perpendicular to the bottom 0 the heel, said walls being nearly parallel, but the slots being narrower at the inner portion of the slots than at the outer portions.

A heel adapted to be fixed to a shoe, said heel being composed of yielding mate rial, and having radial slots therein of very material depth, said slots being spaced a material distance apart and projecting sidewise and forwardly and backwardlry from the central portion of the heel, both of the sides of the slots being inclined to a perpendicular to the bottom of the heel.

4. A heel adapted to be fixed to a shoe, said heel being composed of yielding material, and having slots extending inwardly from its tread and rearwardly from the central portion of the heel, the slots being of greater de th than width and with both walls incline to the tread plane and in the same general direction.

5. A heel adapted to be fixed to a shoe, said heel being composed of ielding material and having slots exten ing inwardly from the tread, said slots being spaced a material distance apart and projecting side- Wise and backwardly from the central portion of the heel, both of the sides of the slots being inclined in the same direction to a line perpendicular to the bottom of the heel, and the slots terminating before the outer side surface of the heel is reached.

6. A heel adapted to be fixed to a shoe, said heel being composed of yielding material, and' having slots of very material depth extending outwardly from the central portion thereof, each of said slots having its Walls nearly parallel, and with the walls inclined with reference to a line perpendicular to the bottom of the heel.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto set my hand.

RUSSELL P. HARSHBERGER. 

